Girls set upon victim like 'wild animals'

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2517955.ece

A girl aged 15 told yesterday how she thought that she would die during a
beating from two fellow schoolgirls who fell on her like "wild animals".
(see Photo)

A photograph of Bethany James taken by her mother as she lay in hospital
graphically illustrates the problem of school bullying. The blood from her
cuts cannot hide the bruises and swelling emerging above her nose, eye
sockets and cheekbones.

Bethany lost consciousness during the assault and it took three adults two
attempts to drag off her attackers. The alleged attackers have been
continuing lessons at Immanuel Church of England Community College in
Bradford. The school is accused of failing to act against the bullies by
arguing that the attack happened away from school premises.

Bethany told The Times yesterday how she been to a video rental shop near
her home in Bradford with three friends when the two girls pounced. One
asked Bethany if she could borrow her mobile phone and when she refused her
ordeal began.

"They came up from behind," she said. "One of them grabbed hold of my hair
and pulled me down to the floor. I said, 'Get off my hair, what are you
doing?' But they started stamping on my head and kicking it. I couldn't
speak again and they weren't saying anything. I was bleeding everywhere."

"One of my mates said, 'Why are you doing it?' They said, 'Because she's
been getting gobby at school'. I was just thinking, 'I am going to die
here'.
I passed out but I woke up and they were still doing it.

"Two lads got out of their car and dragged them off me but they came back
and carried on. Two of my friends went to get their mate's sister and one
was ringing her mum."

The friend's mother arrived by car and dragged the two girls off Bethany. "I
don't know how long it lasted but I'd say it was about a quarter of an
hour," Bethany said. Even after she escaped to the safety of her friend's
mother's car, the girls kept coming back. "One of the girls went up to the
car and was banging it with her hands and pushing it and the other one tried
opening the car door," Bethany said. "They were like wild animals."

Bethany's parents, Tracey and Anthony, said that for four years they had
been warning the school that Bethany was being bullied. It began after she
fell out with a girl who Mrs James, 46, deemed was a bad influence. It
escalated with girls picking on Bethany with name-calling and, lately,
abusive text and internet messages.

Weeks before pupils broke up for the summer holiday, it turned physical when
one of her assailants poked her with a pen. Mrs James, 46, said her knees
"buckled" when she first saw her daughter's face after arriving at Bradford
Royal Infirmary.

After the attack, Bethany returned to school but was put into an isolation
unit. The Department for Children, Schools and Families said in a statement:
"Head teachers have the power 'to such extent as is reasonable' to regulate
the conduct of pupils when they are off-site or not under the control or
charge of a member of staff."

Nobody from the school was available to comment. Two girls were arrested and
bailed yesterday afternoon in connection with the assault, West Yorkshire
Police said. --


--
~ A man needs a woman like a lion needs a stove. ~

~ Women deserve only equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. ~

~ Men are not collectively "guilty" of anything. ~

~ Never needing to be pregnant is a blessing. ~

~ Feminist ideology "men have to respect women, but women have no reason to
respect men" ~

~ Everybody makes choices, and nobody should be entitled to special
treatment because of those choices.
Equal results based on unequal treatment amounts to no kind of equality at
all. ~



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